Reliability based approach for offloading operation related to motion of two side-by-side moored LNG carriers

A reliability based approach for analysis of offloading operations with two identical LNG carriers moored in a side-by-side configuration is suggested. The approach, although adopted for two tankers, is generally applicable to different types of LNG terminals. Different heading controls are conceivable for the discharging vessel in the case that the heading is not fixed: heading toward wind-sea, heading toward swell, heading toward wind and free weather vaning. The analyses show that heading toward the governing sea state is the most beneficial option for two identical LNG carriers moored in a side-by-side configuration. Strategies are discussed for estimation of limiting weather criteria that are consistent with prescribed target failure probabilities.     

Numerical and experimental study on hydrodynamic interaction of side-by-side moored multiple vessels

This paper aims to investigate the basic interaction characteristics of side-by-side moored vessels both numerically and experimentally. A higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) combined with generalized mode approach is applied to analysis of motion and drift force of side-by-side moored multiple vessels (LNG FPSO, LNGC and shuttle tankers). Model tests were carried out for the same floating bodies investigated in the numerical study in regular and irregular waves. Global and local motion responses and drift forces of three vessels are compared with those of calculations. Discussions is highlighted on applicability of numerical method to prediction of sophisticated multi-body interaction problem of which motion behavior is very important to analysis of mooring dynamics of deep sea floating bodies.     

An experimental study of the wave excitation in the gap between two closely spaced bodies,with implications for LNG offloading

The side-by-side offloading of liquid natural gas (LNG) at offshore terminals involves a fixed and a floating body in close proximity; the offshore terminal being the fixed body and the LNG tanker the floating body. The closeness of the two bodies leads to the formation of a long and relatively narrow gap, within which there is the potential for large amplifications of the water surface elevation. The present paper uses experimental results to characterise both the size and nature of the excitation within the gap. It also illustrates the effect of the vessel motion on this amplification by considering a 1:100 scaled model of an LNG tanker as well as its fixed approximation. It is found that the body's ability to move acts to increase the frequency at which resonant amplification within the gap occurs (the resonance frequency). The incident wave conditions considered include regular and irregular waves in both beam- and head-sea orientations; the latter leading to very different gap end conditions. The nature of the resonant amplification for the floating LNG tanker is shown to be similar for the two orientations, suggesting that the gap end conditions do not drive the resonant amplification. Consideration of the nonlinearity within the gap illustrates that resonant amplification occurs at the resonance frequency, irrespective of whether the fluid motion is first or second harmonic. The present paper provides data relevant to the safe offloading operations of an LNG tanker and demonstrates the importance of incorporating the vessel motion in numerical modelling procedures.     

FLNG液舱晃荡压力影响因素及安全性评估研究

针对大型浮式液化天然气储卸生产装置FLNG的液舱晃荡压力变化特征,在深水试验池中开展带液舱模型的FLNG水池模型试验研究。通过试验,获得了FLNG在风浪流联合作用下的浮体六自由度运动,以及相应的液面高度变化数据。通过液舱的液面高度变化数据,提出平液面假设,并在此基础上,求得液舱晃荡引起的舱壁压力变化结果。研究中进一步讨论了液舱晃荡压力的影响因素,并将试验数据与CCS船级社规范计算结果进行对比,为FLNG液舱晃荡压力引起的结构安全性评估提供技术支持。     

Investigation on the hydrodynamic performance of an ultra deep turret-moored FLNG system

Hydrodynamic performance of an ultra deep turret-moored Floating Liquefied Natural Gas(FLNG) system is investigated.Hydrodynamic modeling of a turret-moored FLNG system,in consideration of the coupling effects of the vessel and its mooring lines,has been addressed in details.Based on the boundary element method,a 3-D panel model of the FLNG vessel and the related free water surface model are established,and the first-order and second-order mean-drift wave loads and other hydrodynamic coefficients are calculated.A systematic model test program consisting of the white noise wave test,offset test and irregular wave test combined with current and wind,etc.is performed to verify the numerical model.Owing to the depth limit of the water basin,the model test is carried out for the hydrodynamics of the FLNG coupled with only the truncated mooring system.The numerical simulation model features well the hydrodynamic performance of the FLNG system obtained from the model tests.The hydrodynamic characteristics presented in both the numerical simulations and the physical model tests would serve as the guidance for the ongoing project of FLNG system.     

Fatigue strength assessment of MARK-III type LNG cargo containment system

The aim of this paper is to investigate the fatigue strength of the GTT Mark-III type LNG insulation system. The LNG insulation system consists of several composite layers with various connections; plywood, triplex, reinforced polyurethane foam and mastic. Consequently, the LNG insulation system may include mechanical failures such as cracks as well as delaminations within the layers due to sloshing impact loads and fatigue loadings. In addition, these failures may cause a significant decrease of structural integrity. In this study, a series of fatigue tests have been carried out for Mark-III type LNGC insulation systems at room temperature considering the effect of sloshing impact. The load levels have been determined based on the ultimate strength of reinforced polyurethane foam. The aim of the study is to investigate the typical failure characteristics of the MARK-III LNG insulation system and to obtain the S–N data under fatigue loading. A consolidated single S–N curve is obtained based on a systematic finite element procedure. Future use of the S–N data in fatigue analysis requires that the response analysis is carried out using a finite element model with the same mesh density and material properties. This study can be used as a fundamental study for the fatigue assessment of the LNGC insulation system as well as a design guideline.     

Pressure resistance of the corrugated stainless steel membranes of LNG carriers

Corrugated stainless steel membranes have been used as the primary barriers for LNG carriers to reduce thermal stresses at cryogenic temperatures. As the capacity of the LNG cargo is increased, however, the corrugated stainless steel membranes suffer from buckling and collapse due to increased sloshing loads in large-capacity LNG cargo carriers. In this study, the pressure resistance of the corrugated part of the stainless steel membrane was evaluated using a finite element method for better design of the LNG containment system, and an experimental equipment was developed and the pressure resistance of the stainless steel corrugations was measured and compared with the calculated results. In addition, a new membrane with high-pressure resistance and its reinforcing method were developed and evaluated experimentally.     

A comparative study of numerical simulations for fluid–structure interaction of liquid-filled tank during ship collision

Although International Maritime Organization (IMO) has taken many measures to minimize ship collisions, ships carrying liquid cargo sometimes do get struck by other vessels. The outflow of crude oil causes very serious consequences to the environment. In such cases it is necessary to analyze the response of structure of struck liquid cargo-filled tank to account for fluid–structure interaction accurately. In this paper, numerical simulation of collision between a container ship with double hull very large crude carrier (VLCC) is presented. Three different numerical simulation mothods were adopted to model fluid–structure interaction in liquid-filled cargo tank, namely arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian finite element method, Lagrangian finite element method and linear sloshing model. The numerical simulation results reveal that the fluid–structure interaction of liquid cargo-filled tank has a significant effect on the motion and structural response of the struck cargo tank. Compared with the calculation results of ALE FE method, the linear sloshing model underestimates the influence of fluid–structure interaction of liquid cargo tank while the Lagrangian–Eulerian finite element method may be considered as the practical method for engineering applications as it provided more reasonable results with a relatively low central processing unit (CPU) time.     

Fluid impact onto a corrugated panel with trapped gas cavity

Initial stage of incompressible liquid impact onto a corrugated elastic panel with account for compressible gas trapping between the corrugations is studied. The liquid free surface is flat and parallel to the panel before impact. The impact velocity is constant in this study. The corrugations are modelled as identical rigid short structures on the surface of the flat panel. The panel is either of infinite or finite length. There are only two corrugations which are placed symmetrically on the panel. Only a part of the panel between these two corrugations is elastic. The liquid free surface closes the gas cavity between the two corrugations at the initial instant of impact and compresses the gas before the fluid comes in contact with the elastic part of the panel. The elastic deflections of the panel are caused by gas pressure in the cavity. The elastic deflections modify both the pressure in the cavity and the hydrodynamic pressure distribution along the wetted part of the panel. The hydroelastic problem is solved within the Wagner approach. The effect of gas compressibility on the elastic behaviour of the corrugated elastic panel is investigated. It is shown that the pressure in the gas cavity and elastic deflections grow beyond all bounds for the panel of infinite length and are finite if the panel is of finite length. The present model is relevant for the strength assessment of the cargo containment system (CCS) in the tanks of LNG carriers.     

集装箱船货舱区结构设计和强度评估研究

基于NAPA Steel软件,实现某集装箱船货舱区的3D结构设计,并输出2D的CAD图纸.同时,在结构设计模型的基础上直接生成三舱段结构的初始有限元模型,参照CCS规范要求对模型进行修改完善后,应用MSC.Nastran软件对其进行了强度分析和屈曲计算,获得了该舱段结构强度的详细信息,并根据评估结果来完善结构设计.与传统的2D结构设计模式相比较,3D结构设计方法能有效地提高设计质量和效率.     

Hydrodynamic interactions and relative motions of two floating platforms with mooring lines in side-by-side offloading operation

The hydrodynamic interaction and mechanical coupling effects of two floating platforms connected by elastic lines are investigated by using a time-domain multi-hull/mooring/riser coupled dynamics analysis program. Particular attention is paid to the contribution of off-diagonal hydrodynamic interaction terms on the relative motions during side-by-side offloading operation. In this regard, the exact method (CMM: combined matrix method) including all the vessel and line dynamics, and the 12×12 hydrodynamic coefficients in a combined matrix is developed. The performance of two typical approximation methods (NHI/No Hydrodynamic Interaction: iteration method between two vessels without considering hydrodynamic interaction effects; SMM/Separated Matrix Method: iteration method between two vessels with partially considering hydrodynamic interaction effects, i.e. ignoring off-diagonal cross-coupling terms in the 12×12 hydrodynamic coefficient matrix) is also tested for the same side-by-side offloading operation in two different environmental conditions. The numerical examples show that there exists significant discrepancy at sway and roll modes between the exact and the approximation methods, which means that the cross-coupling (off-diagonal block) terms of the full hydrodynamic coefficient matrix play an important role in the case of side-by-side offloading operation. Therefore, such approximation methods should be used with care. The fender reaction forces, which exhibit large force with contact but no force without contact, are also numerically modeled in the present time-domain simulation study.     

拉伸与扭转载荷作用下LNG低温复合软管的力学性能研究

LNG低温复合软管结构复杂,且在运行时受风、浪、流等多种载荷联合作用,其在超低温环境下的力学性能直接关系到其能否安全运行。首先参考江苏某软管公司生产的4英寸LNG低温复合软管,建立软管精细化有限元模型,接着对软管在拉伸、扭转两种轴对称载荷作用下的力学性能进行研究,最后就软管结构尺寸对其力学性能的影响展开分析。结果表明：在拉伸及扭转载荷作用下,不同层芳纶布以及同层芳纶布不同材料主方向在对应波峰、波谷处的受力情况不同。芳纶布铺设角度、芳纶布铺设层数、钢丝螺距以及钢丝直径对复合软管力学性能影响显著,分析相应的灵敏度规律从而对结构尺寸做出调整。研究成果可以为LNG低温复合软管的结构设计提供参考。     

A probabilistic assessment of design sloshing pressure time histories in LNG tanks

The violent motion (sloshing) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in cargo tanks has attracted significant attention. Transformations of the LNG market have led to the increased transport of LNG in partially filled tanks, but established technology is mainly based on engineering experience with completely filled containers. This paper investigates a large sample of sloshing pressure measurements. It focuses on the magnitude of individual sloshing impact events, and their associated temporal and spatial patterns. The durations of these impacts are comparable to the natural frequency of an LNG container wall, so the details of their time histories are important in determining the structural response. Experiments are performed on tanks with high (92.5%) and low (30%) filling levels, for various wave headings. The common post-processing approach of representing impact pressure histories by a triangular profile is studied, and an alternative approach is presented. Two statistical models are used to describe the distribution of maximal pressures in sloshing impacts: a three-parameter Weibull model and a generalized Pareto model. The latter is found to be of questionable utility due to small sample sizes. It is observed that for low filling levels the sloshing impacts are of greater magnitude, having longer durations, smaller ratios of rise time to duration, and larger spatial extents. All these factors should in principle increase the structural response.     

考虑晃荡效应的独立B型LNG液舱结构多目标优化

独立B型LNG液舱内部设置舱壁板材及多种桁材,有效缓解了液舱晃荡效应。针对晃荡载荷下的独立B型LNG液舱结构多目标优化,利用规范中的公式计算晃荡载荷,并引入液舱晃荡系数,以期综合反映液舱内部构件对晃荡特性的影响,在此基础上进一步建立以液舱结构重量和液舱晃荡系数为目标的多目标优化模型,采用多目标遗传算法(NCGA),计算得到改进的独立B型LNG液舱结构设计方案。     

Wave driven free surface motion in the gap between a tanker and an FLNG barge

When two vessels are moored side-by-side with a narrow gap between them, intense free surface motions may be excited in the gap as a result of complex hydrodynamic interactions. These influence the motions of the two vessels, and the forces in any moorings. The present paper uses first and second order wave diffraction analysis to investigate this phenomenon. Key theoretical aspects of the numerical analysis are first summarised, including the vital need to suppress “irregular frequency” effects; and results are given to validate the code used. The case of a tanker alongside a large floating FLNG barge is then considered in detail.     

Improving the prediction of extreme FPSO hawser tension,using another highly correlated hawser tension with a longer time record

The floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) is an offshore vessel that produces and stores crude oil prior to tanker transport. Robust prediction of extreme hawser tensions during the FPSO offloading operation is an important safety concern. Excessive hawser tension may occur during certain sea conditions, posing an operational risk. In this paper, the finite element method (FEM) software ANSYS AQWA has been employed to analyze vessel response due to hydrodynamic wave loads, acting on a specific FPSO vessel under actual sea conditions.In some practical situations, it would be useful to improve the accuracy of some statistical predictions based on a certain stochastic random process, given another synchronous highly correlated stochastic process that has been measured for a longer time, than the process of interest. In this paper, the issue of improving extreme value prediction has been addressed. In other words, an efficient transfer of information is necessary between two synchronous, highly correlated stochastic processes. Two such highly correlated FPSO hawser tension processes were simulated in order to test the efficiency of the proposed technique.     

Assessment of Fatigue Strength of An Offshore Floating Production and Storage Unit

The procedure of assessment of structural fatigue strength of an offshore floating production and storage and offloading unit(FPSO) in this paper. The emphasis is placed on the long-term prediction of wave induced loading, the refined finite element model for hot spot stress calculation, the combination of stress components, and fatigue damage assessment based on S-N curve.     

南黄海辐射沙洲近岸海域波浪特性研究

Errors will be caused in calculating the fatigue damages of details in liquid cargo tanks by using the traditional spectral analysis method which is based on linear system, for the nonlinear relationship between the dynamic stress and the ship acceleration. An improved spectral analysis method for the assessment of the fatigue damage in detail of a liquid cargo tank is proposed in this paper. Based on assumptions that the wave process can be simulated by summing the sinusoidal waves in different frequencies and the stress process can be simulated by summing the stress processes induced by these sinusoidal waves, the stress power spectral density (PSD) is calculated by expanding the stress processes induced by the sinusoidal waves into Fourier series and adding the amplitudes of each harmonic component with the same frequency. This analysis method can take the nonlinear relationship into consideration and the fatigue damage is then calculated based on the PSD of stress. Take an independent tank in an LNG carrier for example, the accuracy of the improved spectral analysis method is proved much better than that of the traditional spectral analysis method by comparing the calculated damage results with the results calculated by the time domain method. The proposed spectral analysis method is more accurate in calculating the fatigue damages in detail of ship liquid cargo tanks.     

八角形FPSO与穿梭油轮串靠外输中碰撞风险分析

针对300 m作业水深下的八角形FPSO,提出采用穿梭油轮串靠的外输作业方案,研究外输过程中穿梭油轮与FPSO之间由于过分纵荡运动而引起的碰撞风险发生概率。建立由八角形FPSO及其系泊系统、穿梭油轮、系泊大缆等组成的浮式多体系统分析模型,在外输海况条件下,得到穿梭油轮与FPSO间距的时历曲线,结合极值理论,对过分纵荡运动进行预报,进而对外输系统的碰撞风险进行分析;揭示海流的方向变化对于外输系统碰撞风险的影响规律。     

Numerical simulation of impact loads using a particle method

The violent free-surface motions interacting with structures are investigated using the moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method, which was originally proposed by Koshizuka and Oka (1996) for incompressible flow simulation. In the present numerical method, a more efficient algorithm for Lagrangian moving particles is used for solving various highly nonlinear free-surface problems without using the Eulerian approach or the grid system. Therefore, the convection terms and time derivatives in the Navier–Stokes equation can be calculated more directly without any numerical diffusion, instabilities, or topological failure. In particular, the MPS method is applied to the simulation of liquid-entry and slamming problems, such as wet-drop (liquid–liquid collision) tests in an LNG tank and slamming loads (solid–liquid collision) on rigid plates with various incident angles. The numerical results are in good agreement with available experimental data.